Weird things happen these days.

At one point on my way to work this morning I was passing two semis that were in the right lane. (Divided highway, 2 lanes each direction) I am doing 10-15 MPH over the speed limit passing the trucks.  While in the middle (?) of my pass a Jeep pulls close behind me and starts flashing it's lights at me.  I accelerate a bit, make my pass and when it is safe I move into the right lane in front of the trucks.  The Jeep pulls up next to me and the driver takes my picture with his phone.  Then he speeds away and almost hits a dump truck that is changing lanes.  

Anyone else have weird crap like this happen?

My guess is that he felt he had to share his outrage of your slower driving with his Instagram followers. 

Yes, weird things happening! 

People are desperate for something to post on FB or tweet so someone in the world will recognise they are still alive and possibly relevant.

Ignore them and maybe they won't be. 

Fortunately nothing as weird as that lately.

In a really minor echo of this, as near as I can tell nobody can stand to be passed unless it's by 10-15mph these days. I set my cruise at a middling speed, get passed by some, and pass others.

The rate of people deciding that they suddenly want to be doing another 3-5mph after being reeled in for a couple of minutes is off the charts. It's like the outlet for the world's angst and aggression is just a total unwillingness to be passed unless it's by someone going fast enough that they can call them a dangerous shiny happy person.

In reply to Jesse Ransom :

There is some truth to this. Several months ago I came up behind a car, changed to the left lane to pass. They sped up. So I eased into it a little and they sped up again. I won't tell you how fast I ended up pushing them but it was well into reckless driving ticket range. I got back in the right lane and let the speed drop back to the set speed on the cruise. Within 5 miles I was right back behind them. 

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

I see it far more frequently driving the E250 or RV. It doesn't matter if I'm bouncing off the speed limiter at 85, they don't want to be passed by or stuck behind a "slow vehicle".

If you're not doing 80 move all the way over, Texas! 

Does the new fangled adptive cruise control have anything to do with these behaviors? 

I don't own a car with adaptive but on my m-i-l's Ford Escape,  I don't like it.  Set it to 77 and the next thing you know, ive been going only 65 (without realizing it) because the d-bag in front of me is going 65 in a 70 zone. 

I think that a lot of people can't judge their own speed very well,  and get caught up using the car passing them as a reference for controlling their own speed.

Sometimes I see people speed up and pace me when I pass them for 1/4-1/2 mile then they realize it and slow back down to the speed they were traveling before I passed. 

In reply to No Time :

I agree, I think a lot of people don't have any concept of what speed they're going. 

Seeing people go to great lengths to document their life, instead of experiencing it.

This used to be a big thing with video cameras and kids (taping a play or a game, rather then watching it).  Now it's everywhere.

In reply to aircooled :

I see this all the time. People with their phone in front of them, recording their whole experience but not experiencing anything.

It's as if having a record of it makes it more real for them or something.

If they would just put the phone down, the whole world is already in High Def 3D.

aircooled said:

Seeing people go to great lengths to document their life, instead of experiencing it.

This used to be a big thing with video cameras and kids (taping a play or a game, rather then watching it).  Now it's everywhere.

We used to try to get good photos of the kids playing hockey or catch big plays on video, but gave that up for the reasons mentioned in this thread.

You may catch it on video, but don't get the full experience of watching it with 100% of your attention. 

Now I just go back to LiveBarn and watch the video feed from the rink later if I want to see it again.

Like those people at a concert, recording the concert, instead of WLEXPIERIANCING THE CONCERT THATS GOING ON RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!?!?

Caught a coworker doing the speed matching thing driving to one of our mills and asked her about it, she just said "I like doing the speed of traffic" so I think NoTime nailed it. 

It had been going on a couple miles but at time the other car was doing one of the let me wind it out to 90+ moves and her reply on that point was "well they're in front so they'll get a ticket not me".

I think I was an aggressive high school driver when I noticed NoTime's conclusion in my own self. Decades later I still have to remind myself that not everyone is trying to be a jerk, they just notice you in their periphery

In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :

There is some truth to this. Several months ago I came up behind a car, changed to the left lane to pass. They sped up. So I eased into it a little and they sped up again. I won't tell you how fast I ended up pushing them but it was well into reckless driving ticket range. I got back in the right lane and let the speed drop back to the set speed on the cruise. Within 5 miles I was right back behind them.

I had the same thing happen a while back. I was commuting home from work and some econo car was driving under the speed limit ahead of me. He was also failing to maintain a constant speed, which bothers me worse than just driving slowly.  I change lanes to go around him. I'm not in a hurry, just enjoying music and decompressing on the drive home. Out of the corner of my eye, I see that he's still next to me and give it a little more gas. I'm not paying him much attention, and I look over to change lanes, expecting an empty spot next to me. He's still there. I glance at my speedo, now well over the speed limit, and it dawns on me that this guy is trying to prevent me from passing. Huh. I guess he thought he was a match for my boring 80's looking Galant VR4. I didn't bother downshifting, I just spooled the big turbo and suddenly there were many car lengths of room to complete my pass. I slowed down and he never got close to me again. 

I really think you guys are assigning malice to a situation that is more explained by stupidity.  People, in general, are quite unaware of what's going on around them,  and have no idea what cruise control is.  There is a natural tendency to fit in, so if you are going at a certain speed, that's the speed we should all go.

I use cruise, but when I'm passing, I make sure I have a 5 to 10 mph advantage.  Make the pass, and get on with your day.  Get the job done and get out of the left lane.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Yup.

I temper this with a habit when passing semis that I think confuses the heck out of most drivers. I get into the passing lane next to the semi, and then hang back behind their rear bumper until I have a clear run in front of their front bumper. Then I make the pass as quickly as possible. I do NOT want to get caught next to a semi in a situation where they have to swerve or something.

Average driver does not seem to understand that.

Heck, even with regular passenger vehicles, I would rather maintain separation. They're just a lot shorter, so that's less noticeable.

No Time said:

I think that a lot of people can't judge their own speed very well,  and get caught up using the car passing them as a reference for controlling their own speed.

Sometimes I see people speed up and pace me when I pass them for 1/4-1/2 mile then they realize it and slow back down to the speed they were traveling before I passed. 

Too bad there's no way to let the car control the speed for you.

I managed to piss off a Karen last night on my commute home.  I'm behind her at a left turn lane (with arrow) to get on a road that starts as 2 lane but rapidly merges to one and becomes a rather pleasant country road to zip along on.

Light turns green and she false starts, stops, then starts again and meanders through the turn and straddles the two lanes.  I decide to pass this clearly clueless lady and zip by on the far right (in the Miata).  She blows her horn, flips me off, and gets her phone up to take a picture of the back of my car (I had gotten all the way up to 45 mph after all).  Then she immediately turns into a subdivision and is gone so I suppose I could have waited, but I wasn't excited about following her dumpy Rav-4 for miles of a fun road if she hadn't.  Oh well.

The highway behavior that truly grates is driving along at my preferred speed, cruise control on and minding my business.  Someone will come up faster until they are alongside and they'll slow to match my speed.  Pacing me till slower traffic forces me to brake and swing in behind pace car, at which point they speed off back at their previous higher speed.  It happens EVERY TIME on the highway.  

John Welsh said:

Does the new fangled adptive cruise control have anything to do with these behaviors? 

I don't own a car with adaptive but on my m-i-l's Ford Escape,  I don't like it.  Set it to 77 and the next thing you know, ive been going only 65 (without realizing it) because the d-bag in front of me is going 65 in a 70 zone. 

In another thread on another forum:

"Adaptive cruise control sucks.  I'll have an SUV behind me, so I'll slow down so they can pass to get their headlights out of my mirrors, and they just slow down and park behind me instead..."

ALL cruise control sucks.

In reply to KyAllroad :

I may have been a little rude to a frumpy lady in a suv this morning. She was in the fast lane on the interstate at 38 mph about 100 yards behind the next car, that was clearly accelerating. The horn on the Ridgeline has been replaced with something substantially louder. I'm reasonably certain she dropped her phone and E36 M3 herself when I laid into it as I went around her. 

I have zero tolerance for people who aren't paying attention in traffic. I will be an shiny happy person about it.